A Backstage Pass – Part II

In last week’s success tip we introduced the concept of running a sweepstakes to get more Fans of your Facebook Fan page.   This is a behind the scenes look at how we are running our own sweepstakes on our fan page www.facebook.com/mysocialwizard

If you are not a fan of our fan page yet, stop and go to www.facebook.com/mysocialwizard and enter our sweepstakes.  This way you will understand what we are talking about.

First I want to cover a few of the rules you have to follow.   Facebook has their own set of rules.  Here is a link to their list of rules: http://www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php.  After reading the rules, the following points jump out at me:

• You cannot administer a promotion where users are automatically entered by liking your Page (this gets a lot of people).
• You need to use an application to run your promotion.  We wrote our own, but that is beyond most people’s capabilities.   We like the sweepstake tool from www.NorthSocial.com – check them out.
• You cannot force a user to do something on Facebook, such as posting on a Wall of a Page,  uploading a photo, or posting a status update (it is ok to force them to like your page before they can enter your contest).

There are also local laws and regulations that you need to follow.  We are not lawyers (nor do I play one on TV, and I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night), but here are some important things to consider

• If your prize is over $500 you will run into more rules and regulations
• Canada has all kinds of rules that are unique and Quebec outlaws most sweepstakes.
• To be safe, add the following to your rules: “The Promotion is open only to people who are at least 21 years old as of their date of entry and reside in the United States (or whatever area you want to limit it to). No purchase necessary to enter. Subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations. This Promotion is void where prohibited by law.

It is important to understand the major rules, but don’t get hung up on them.

Now for the fun stuff. 

First you have to promote your sweepstakes so people know to come and enter.  We’ve tried a lot of approaches to promote our sweepstakes – Here are some good ideas you can use:

• Send an email to all your customers, family and friends – keep it fun and lively
• Send postcards to customers
• Announce the sweepstakes on your website
• Post the sweepstakes on your own personal page
• Ask friends to post it on their page
• Use photos in announcements about your sweepstakes
• Tag friends/fans with large followings in your update
• Post an announcement on appropriate group and fan pages
• If you use other social media (Linkedin, Twitter, etc.) promote it there
• and one final big one…
  ….Facebook Ads*

*In next week’s success tip we will cover
How to advertise your sweepstakes on Facebook using paid ads

Dedicated to your success.

Greg Pitstick & Bill Brown

 

P.S. Learn how to run your own sweepstakes to grow your business.  Go to www.facebook.com/mysocialwizard and enter our sweepstakes to learn how to hold your own killer sweepstakes.